Describes an upper-level high-school science course that provides students with hands-on experience in applying classroom physics to practical problems. Explores how the course prepares serious science students for future work while they have fun. Past projects have included establishing a speed trap on campus, restoring the school's observatory,…

Examines the invention of school effectiveness as a specific curriculum and pedagogical discourse that has captivated researchers, policymakers, and politicians. Considers school-effectiveness research methodology, politics, and underlying epistemological assumptions. Explores the dilemmas confronting inclusive education research. The concepts of…

Describes the American Association of Community Colleges' first summit on workforce development. Presents key points from the summit, including: (1) the possible creation of a National Business Forum; (2) the marketing of community colleges as a major part of economic development in the nation; and (3) a more unified research agenda among and…

Analyzes changes in oral communication skills of five American adult learners who participated in a five-week study abroad program in Spanish. Subjective analysis of recordings of participants upon their return show that four participants increased their command of the vocabulary and were more at ease in discourse interaction. (14 references)…

Describes a curriculum design approach, "the ill-structured problem," based on real life situations, that was used for a summer gifted foreign language program for fifth- and sixth-grade students in the Chesapeake Public Schools, Virginia. Elements of problem-based learning are described, including the problem comes first, the problem is…

This article discusses a partnership among professionals in Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Hungary to construct a useful learning tool for adults with learning difficulties. It describes development of the training needs scale that includes units in three main educational areas: social work skills, new technologies, and European…

A review of articles on self-determination and self-advocacy published between 1992 and 1999 found that, with systematic instruction, students with a wide range of disabilities can acquire self-determination skills. Researchers have documented changes for students with learning disabilities, mental retardation, emotional disabilities, and…

Outlines the procedures followed in the needs analysis (NA) project carried out in 1996 at the College of Petroleum and Engineering at Kuwait University. Focuses on the steps taken in the project and the rationale behind them. Offers an illustration of an NA project and to show the procedural steps involved. (Author/VWL)

This paper chronicles the development of two children with severe disabilities who were fully included in a community child care center that implemented a developmentally appropriate play-based curriculum. Data indicate that the children made progress in all areas of development over the nine-month school year. (Author/DB)

Argues for a holistic core that balances the dialectic tensions between social science and humanities, scholarly discipline and craft/praxis, and common and special topics within the discipline. Offers rationales for two other unique features of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington curriculum: research methods at the front end of the…

Describes the curriculum of the Lake Washington School District Environmental and Adventure School which included outdoor education on the school grounds and field and overnight trips. The curriculum theme was interdependent relationships, people and environments. Also included study of local natural history and Native American tribes. (PVD)

Faculty need to be supported and encouraged to integrate disciplinary research and scholarship into undergraduate courses and programs in ways that are beneficial to their students' learning. (Contains 1 figure.)

This paper reports on the implementation of an ambitious bilingual instructional programme in the P'urhepecha-speaking region of Michoacan state in Mexico, the Meseta Tarasca. A curriculum of indigenous language preservation and cultural affirmation, overturning the previous Spanish-only programme, has been developed by a group of indigenous…

Two contrasting sets of ideas about nature in environmental education are described. An analytical framework is developed from inter-disciplinary histories of ideas and used in evaluating a specific curriculum. In conclusion, some general implications are suggested for curricula in environmental education. [This article was reprinted from…

The HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills) program was started 25 years ago in the belief that educationally disadvantaged students (Title I and learning disabled) were bright and that the top priority for supplemental aid for these students should be to help them channel that innate intelligence into learning at a higher level. The students were…